The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 51

significant disparities in access to dental health care and oral health
outcomes for people in the US.
Although advances have been made in the “coverage and
affordability protections gained by children and families” (“ADA, Other
Dental Groups,” 2017) there are still deficiencies in the dental health
care system. A 2012 report to the US Senate from the Subcommittee on
Primary Health and Aging titled “Dental Crisis in America: The Need to
Expand Access” found that there were many groups that still had “a
much harder time accessing” dental health care, such as low-income
individuals, minorities, pregnant women, the elderly, people with
disabilities, and people in rural communities (Sanders, 2012). The
solutions proposed in the report echo the “framework for action”
recommended by a US Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) published report over 10 years ago: expand the oral health care
workforce and improve infrastructure; expand coverage and raise
reimbursement rates to providers; and promote dental health education
and prevention (Sanders, 2012).
Changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will greatly affect all of
these factors of dental health in the US. Originally passed in 2010 and
officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the
ACA regulates financial, technological, and clinical practices of
hospitals and primary care physicians (Hellerstedt, n.d.). It covers the
entirety of the US health care system including dental and oral care and